Exec turmoil continues at Motricity as CEO Ryan Wuerch steps down

Ryan Wuerch has stepped down as CEO of Motricity, the publicly-traded Bellevue mobile software company that he’s run for a decade. The 43-year-old executive, who founded the company in 2001, also resigned from the board.

The resignation comes amid an ongoing executive shakeup at the struggling company, one which has led to the resignations of CFO Allyn Hebner; Chief Development Officer Jim Ryan; general counsel Richard Leigh; and senior vice president Tyler Nelson.

Wuerch isn’t walking away empty handed. The board has agreed to provide the executive with a $450,000 severance payment.

Wuerch has been replaced on an interim basis by James R. Smith Jr., the company’s president and chief operating officer. The 44-year-old executive is a veteran of Avaya, and is in the running for the full-time post as an executive search takes place.

Motricity moved to the Seattle area from North Carolina in 2008 after purchasing the mobile assets of Bellevue-based InfoSpace. It went public last year, but the stock has performed poorly since entering the public markets.

Its mCore platform is used by wireless carriers to power mobile data services. Last week, Seattle law firm Hagens Berman filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging that it issued “materially false and misleading statements to investors.”

John Cook is GeekWire's co-founder and editor, a veteran reporter and the longest-serving journalist on the Pacific Northwest tech startup beat. Follow him @johnhcook and email john@geekwire.com.